The
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church was founded on Seneca Street in
1875, and was purchased by the Larkin Company in 1911 to be used as an
auditorium. Sacred Heart also constructed a rectory in
1890 among other buildings on the property. The main church was
demolished in 1937.
p. 10

Larkin Development has acquired the former Larkin Men’s Club Building
at 696 Seneca St., a two-story, 15,000-square-foot brick structure that
has had a number of uses since it was constructed in 1890.

The building was originally constructed as a rectory for the Sacred Heart Church. The Larkin Co. bought it in 1915 to make way for a planned factory expansion, but ultimately kept the building and made it a private men’s club.

By 1940, the building was renovated into a tavern after the Larkin Co. was liquidated.

As recently as 1999, the building was used as a boarding house. It has been vacant for the past few years.

... the building [Sacred Heart
RC Church] was dedicated on 25 June, 1876. For the next thirty
years the congregation prospered, peacefully coexisting with its
industrial neighbors which included the Larkin Warehouse across the
street. But the construction of the Larkin Administration Building in
1905, on the lot adjoining the church, signaled an impending change in
the life of the congregation.

In 1912, the Larkin Company, planning for future expansion of its
operations, offered to purchase from the congregation its church,
school and rectory... sale for $135,000.

... the Larkin Company converted it [the former church] into an
auditorium for its administration building next door. With the
company downsizing in the 1930s, it demolished the building for a
parking lot in may, 1936.